Paul Heyman Talks To WWE About Steve Austin’s ECW Matches

“Steve had two matches in ECW, I wish he had 2000,” Heyman says. “He wrestled Mikey Whipwreck at the November to Remember 1995 for the ECW World Title and he wrestled Mikey Whipwreck and The Sandman in a Three-Way Dance for the ECW World Title in December 1995. I wanted to build ECW around Steve Austin as the World Champion. I even pitched to Steve winning the Title at the November to Remember 1995, but he was such a fan of Mikey Whipwreck, he thought it would be better if Mikey won the match and also, Steve thought it was better for his character.

Heyman continues, “And this is where Steve was so ahead of the game, far ahead of everybody else. Steve thought it was better for his character to lose and bitch about it, cause then he had something else to be angry about. Then he had another reason to push that character all the way to the line, all the way to the wall. And he knew that in losing, he could become a bigger star than if he won the ECW World Title.

“It was just so smart. He was so far ahead of everybody else.”

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Im glad Austin didn’t job to Lesnar. That guy was just big, I never saw anything that had me thinking he was the next big thing. Im glad Austin stunned him and Goldberg at WMXX. Vince should be very grateful for what Austin has done for the company. He ushered in the Attitude Era.

breezy

if wwe would have let brock basically over run austin it wouldve been like hulk hogan letting ultimate warrior beat him at wm6. it made sense because he was the up and comer but in the long run it was just dumb. because brock disowned the whole wrestling industry.

Greg

And let’s not forget stone cold has come out an said he had no problem putting Brock over, he jus wanted to build it right and give that match the respect it deserves. It made no sense for that to be a throw away job match that match would have drawed big money and stone cold steve Austin jobs to nobody hes one of the biggest stars of all time.

Mabry

ive been watching a lot of Bret Hart´s matches lately, specially between the Final Four ppv and the Screwjob. And i have rememebered so many good fights, matches and promos with Austin. I really miss that rivalry and those days. Everything seemed so real. Bret saying “Bullshit” on tv, and Austin being so frikin pissed off all the time…. those two were geniuses and had so much chemistry. I really miss those days much more than the Attitude era itself, Bret putting over Austin even when he would win almost all the time was great. A Bret vs Austin rilvary dvd is much needed….

Valo487

How sad that so few wrestlers these days have the intelligence/integrity to turn down a win when it is best for everyone.

JIR

Think of its this way Lesnar was groomed to be a star Austin fought for it he didn’t have to put Lesnar over. And Lesnar those have the right to say I wanted that match with Austin because if he ever does come back he wants that big payday

TS93

@heyfit cuz they wanted him to job. They wanted brock to win within 10 sec do ur research

Devil_Rising

It’s too bad guys like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and HHH didn’t feel this way throughout the decades. If more people were concerned with making young stars, and what was “smart for business”, instead of just putting themselves over, the business would have been, and still would be, a lot better off.

PinkSinCara

@ Steve

Probably similar to RVD. I always thought RVD has his best moments in ECW, only to become watered down in WWE. If Steve Austin spent more time in ECW and allowed his character to form within their limitless, uncensored boundaries, WWE would have eventually taken notice anyway and hired him. Then they would have remolded him to fit their needs, which tend to be somewhat lame. I doubt WWE would have had the ratings spike during the “Attitude Era” without SCSA, whom was given the ball and allowed to push the envelope further

Steve

I wonder how different wrestling would have been had Steve Austin stayed in ECW.